An IP address conflict, also termed “duplicate IP addresses”, occurs when two computing systems connect to a network using the same IP address. For example, an IP address conflict arises when a first computer connecting to a network obtains an IP address from a dynamic host control protocol (DHCP) server, the same IP address has been statically assigned to a second computer, and the second computer connects to the network after the first computer. In another example, an IP address conflict in a virtual computing environment arises when a first virtual machine (VM) uses a statically assigned IP address and the first VM is cloned thereby generating a second VM having the same statically assigned IP address as the first VM. Then, one of the first and second VMs connects to a network, followed by the other of the first and second VMs connecting to the network, thereby generating an IP address conflict. An IP address conflict also arises when a user manually enters an IP address for a computing system connects to a network, and the manually entered IP address is already in use on the network. An IP address conflict also arises when there is some misconfiguration with DHCP server or because of multiple DHCP servers issuing same IP address to different virtual machines.
While some systems are able to detect an IP address conflict and generate a corresponding message, detecting and resolving an IP address conflict in a virtual computing environment is complicated for at least two reasons. First, a virtual computing environment may include a wide variety of host hardware and guest operating systems in addition to virtual networking elements that require IP addresses. Each physical or virtual machine (VM) within the virtual computing environment may use a different method of handling an IP address conflict. Second, cloning of VMs is a common activity in a virtualized environment for initial deployment of VM. The VM cloning process increases the likelihood of an IP address conflict.